She laughed gently, both surprised and pleased by the offer, but she shook her head and when he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, she leant into his side. He shivered at the coldness of her but seemed happy with the closeness.
"Did you hear the conversation?" she asked.
"No, but I could feel your tension, so I assume he was threatening you," he said gently.
She nodded her agreement and looked at his hand on her arm, taking note that his nails were black.
Reaching out, she took his free hand from his thigh and examined his nails curiously.
"Do they grow like that?" she asked, fascinated.
"They do. So do Vincent's."
"I hadn't taken any notice." She probably should have, but usually he was trying to grab her, and she was too busy trying to get away to pay much attention to his fingernails.
"Yours are interesting," he said, twisting his wrist to catch her fingers and lifted them to his eyes.
"Why don't you take off the mask? You'd be able to see better."
She saw his jaw clench, and he tensed slightly, but he didn't stop her when she turned her hand and placed two fingers on the underside of the mask and lifted it up.
He had the same too-wide mouth with the shark teeth, but he wasn't smiling then, he was frowning slightly and it looked wrong on his face.
A small nose and then large eyes that were entirely black with no hint of white, naturally shaped brows and pale skin that was oddly marked with what looked like black tears almost, trailing down from his lower eyelids to his jaw.
She looked at him, her lips slightly parted in fascination as she took him in. He didn't scare her, or even twinge her nerves at all, he was like Vincent, and Vincent was fairly normal to her now. But he was fascinating.
"I thought Hunters all had red eyes," she said gently, searching his, but she couldn't see any pupil or iris at all, they were entirely black, no scalar or anything.
"Depends on the mother," he said warily. "Most have red, some have gold and a handful of us have black. I've heard of one with white, but no one knows for sure."
He tensed as her hand lifted and she brushed her fingers over the unusual markings on his face, but his skin was smooth, perfect.
He was staring at her face, tiny movements of his eyelids telling her where he was looking, and she could tell he was searching her face for fear or hatred.
"What species is your mother?" she asked, her palm pressing against his cheek and his eyelids fluttered closed.
"Banshee," he said, and she made a soft sound of pleasure that had him looking up at her curiously.
"One of my relatives is a banshee," she said, fascinated to meet another with similar lineage. "I've never met a male banshee before, can you scream?"
He shook his head and his eyes lowered as she pouted, wanting to hear it from the other side.
"You can?" he asked, and he smiled when she nodded. "Can I hear it?" he asked excitedly.
"Not here, I get in trouble if I break the windows," she said, looking up at the castle and all of those windows of delicate glass.
"We can go somewhere else," he said, his excitement bleeding into her. "Is that an ocelot…?" he said suddenly, looking past her to see Cat prowling towards them with an intent that had her concerned.
"That's Cat," Etani supplied and when Cat went for his hand on her shoulder, she pushed the feline down, but he was licking furiously at Neah's hand and she looked to see that he was bleeding, his blood trickling down her arm and staining her dress.
"You're bleeding," she said, and he tilted forward to see.
"Oh, sorry. That happens sometimes," he said, tugging his sleeve up his arm.
He was wearing the odd device the Hunters used. It was a cage filled with a moveable series of cages for their arm and covered in small blades, that when they twisted their arm, it would cut their skin and give them access to their blood magic. It looked as though he had jerked against it and his skin had been peeled away in two spots.
Frowning, she swatted away his hand as he worked to get the cage back into place and she gave it a slight tug, pulling it down the half inch it had ridden up. The other two cages fell back into place, not cutting him, but the blades no longer pushed against his skin.
Sliding her fingers carefully between the bars, she pressed his skin back down into place and held it there to give it time to heal, her eyes trailing up over the millions upon millions of scars on his skin from the cage, and then up to the scars that lined his skin where the cage didn't cover.
Looking at her fingers, she lifted it to her mouth and tasted his blood, the odd warmth of it washing through her though there was no energy that came with it, only a warmth.
He smiled as he saw her tasting his blood and murmured a soft "thanks" to her fixing the cage, Cat looking rather annoyed at the loss of fresh blood.
"Let's take Cat upstairs and then we can go show off," she said, and he nodded. She expected him to stand, but instead he simply lifted his uncaged arm and she watched with fascination as the air warped around his hand and Cat immediately went for the room he knew with an alarmed Kai and Jaia.
Once Cat was inside and safe, Neah dropped the opening and they looked up as a cry came out from one of the balconies.
Laughing gently, she wrapped her arm around Neah's middle, and the world faded around them.
***
"You're going to be in so much trouble when you get back," he said, amused as they appeared in an empty clearing, and she turned to see that they were in fact alone.
Pushing herself to her feet beside him, she felt an odd relief filling her at the hint of freedom.
"I'm surprised that it worked, I agreed not to leave but maybe it doesn't count if I am only going away for a little while," she said slowly, unsure but glad it had worked.
Turning back to Neah, she found him watching her with an odd expression on his face as he stood.
"You can't leave?" he asked.
"I promised not to, so long as Daemon didn't hurt Malik," she said with a shrug.
His eyes lifted to her ears and understanding dawned on his face.
"I wonder what would happen if I did scream with you nearby," she said thoughtfully, not entirely sure that it was going to work at all.
"I've heard a banshee scream before," he said but she shook her head.
"You heard an actual banshee, whose scream is for the dying, mine kills," she said.
"Really?" he asked, his tone fascinated.
"Probably should have mentioned that before we came here," she lamented, hoping he wouldn't be disappointed.
"I want to hear it," he said, eager and curious.
Smiling at him, she shrugged and looked around once more to be sure that no one was likely to hear.
Neah inched closer, and she closed her eyes, frowning slightly as she reached down into herself, searching and finding it. That unreal sound she could make that was waiting patiently for her need.
It rose eagerly to her call, and she smiled, feeling it filling her body. Her lungs seemed to expand to three times their capacity within her as she sucked in her breath and then she screamed, the sound terrible and high, ethereal, and haunting.
He jerked back at the sound, though he didn't show any signs of pain or fear for her.
The power inside her was purring happily as it settled back down inside her and the scream slowly faded away, leaving her tingling all over. Opening her eyes, she looked up and gasped as she saw black was dripping from his jaw, the tracks on his face glistening and fresh.
He stared at her for several long seconds, her hand lifting to touch the black and she looked down at it. It wasn't blood or even tears like hers, it was simply black, like ink.
"So perfect…" he whispered as she rubbed the black substance between her fingers, curious to know what it was.
Looking back up at him, she tilted her head slightly as she watched the last drip from his chin and then the glistening faded to leave the markings solid once more.
Reaching for her, his fingers found her cheek, and she smiled faintly, but then he pulled her closer and she jerked as he kissed her hard.
His arms were around her, and she was frozen, not sure what to do with him. She hadn't expected him to kiss her, though perhaps she should have after what he had said.
The taste of him was sweet on her mouth, blood, and something else that she couldn't tell, but she felt as though she knew what it was, at least distantly.
Pressing against his chest, he frowned and pulled her closer, his mouth demanding a response out of hers, but she couldn't give one.
Breaking the kiss slowly, he growled, and she shivered, the sound low and dangerous, but she didn't know what to do and so she reached up. Her fingers touched the mask, dragging it down over his face to provide a shield. It wasn't like he was the first, or last for that matter, man to kiss her. But he had been nice, like her, and she knew he couldn't help his response to her.
He jumped at the sudden pulling down of his mask and there was a tense moment before he laughed. "Okay, I'm sorry, I won't kiss you again," he said.
Looking up at him, she smiled faintly. "Good, I'd hate to have to kill you."
"Would you though?" he asked.
"Yes, I like you," she said simply.
He nodded slowly, looking down at her hands on his chest and she saw him swallowing.
"I like you too," he said quietly, still holding her to him, but there was less tension in her now that the mask was between them.